Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Let’s start this
year on a sweet note, with this simple payasam/kheer. This is again a dish
which I came to know of and tasted only after marriage. It is one of my MIL’s
recipe. This is a really easy payasam and can be made in no time with just a
few commonly available ingredients and hence my MIL calls it “thideer payasam”.
Even though, the ingredients that go into making this may be very common ones,
but the taste is really good. I simply love the combination of coconut and
jaggery. So if you are looking for quick and delicious dessert, give this a
try.

What you’ll need

Raw Rice – 1 tbsp

Fresh scraped
coconut – ½ cup, tightly packed

Powdered Jaggery – 1
cup

Boiled, cooled milk –
¾ cup

Cardamom – 2 or 3

Cashew nuts – 6 to
7, broken

Ghee – 1 tsp

Method

Wash and soak the
rice in water for about an hour.

Drain, and grind
along with coconut into a fine paste, adding about ¼ cup of water.

Dissolve the jaggery,
by heating it with ¼ cup of water, strain to remove impurities. Keep aside.

Transfer the ground
paste, to a heavy bottom vessel. To this add about 2 cups of water and heat on
medium flame.

Keep stirring else
it will form lumps. Keep stirring and cook until the paste is cooked. The paste
will turn semi solid like porridge.

At this stage add
the jaggery mixture and stir well. Boil on low heat for 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove from heat,
add the milk and cardamom powder and mix well.

In a small frying
pan, heat a tsp of ghee and fry the cashew nuts. Add it to the payasam.

Delicious payasam is
ready. Serve warm.

Note:

Due to the addition
of rice, the payasam tends to thicken, so add little milk and adjust consistency
before serving.

Sunday, December 15, 2013

Thogayal is a condiment prepared usually with coconut, lentils and spices. You could also add some vegetables to make it healthier. The common vegetables added to thogayals are carrots, ridge gourd, pumpkin etc. They are similar to the regular chutney but are more thicker and are usually mixed with rice and had. They pair very well with Molagootal, Molagooshyam and also with curd rice. Now off to the recipe

Sunday, December 8, 2013

Hope you all had a great weekend. The weather in Amsterdam is not very conducive for taking pictures. The days are very short, dull and cloudy. So it is becoming very difficult for me to take cook and click in the natural light. Hope to see some sun during this week.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, this month the International Food Challenge chose recipes from the Indian cuisine, the Marwari Cuisine to be more specific. Manjula of Desi Fiesta suggested the recipes for this month. From the yummy list of recipes, I chose to make one kachori and one halwa. So here is the Halwa that I made. It was really delicious and was a big hit with the kids. the texture of the halwa was very smooth and silky and the sweetness was just right. The only thing was the amount of ghee. But don't cringe on that as it is one of the main ingredients that makes this halwa so delicious. So make it and have it in very small portions. :)

Serves – 3 to 4

What you'll need

Whole Wheat Flour – ½ cup

Water – 1 cup

Jaggery Powdered – ½ cup

Ghee – 1/3 cup

Cardamom – 3

Method

Heat a Kadai with the ghee, on medium
flame, once the ghee has melted, add the flour and roast on low heat until the
flour changes its color to brown and a nice aroma starts coming. Take care not
to burn the flour.

In another vessel, mix in the
jaggery and the water and heat until the jaggery dissolves completely. Do not
allow it to boil.

Once the wheat flour has turned a nice brown pour
in the jaggery water into the toasted wheat, carefully avoiding any splatter.

Whisk well until the mixture turns smooth and
cook for a minute more.

Add the cardamom powder, mix well and serve
warm or at room temperature.

Garnish with almonds or cashewnuts
if you desire.

Note:

The sweetness of the halwa was
just right. In fact it was slightly on the lower side. If you like your halwas
to be sweeter you can add another half cup of jaggery.

Friday, December 6, 2013

Hello EveryoneToday's post is a special one. You must have guessed from the title, it is a guest post. It is special because this is the first guest post on this small space of mine. I am very glad to have Usha share her recipe with us here. Usha is a wonderful blogger who blogs at Mahas Lovely Home. She has some very interesting recipes. Please do visit her space. She has also started another blog with many blogger friendly tips and tricks.

Let me not waste more time. Over to Usha

Hi..Every one....Hope you all doing well by the grace of god...It`s friday..So,Guest post day....This time I am sharing recipe in a cool and soft nature person blog..She is KAVERI who writes at PALAKKAD CHAMAYAL...A very silent(I feel) and mother of two cute girls..Few times we chatted in FB and the topics are only about kids mostly..Being a mom I know how difficult to active in blogging, but she balance the time perfectly and managing home at the same time blogging equally I feel.Great dear..She shares healthy foods in her blog and mostly they are traditional and authentic recipes which are very new to me..The most Important Kaveri`s blog is vegetarian world. Her pictures shows the love on cooking and blogging. Also, I like her simple write ups and specially her dessert and sweet recipes. In that fruit salad in mango sauce is my favourite recipe one.When I asked about my guest post party she agreed it happily and after few days again sent message about recipe posting..I was pleased by seeing her affection and interest on a friend. I wish her all the best and also to Palakkad. Chamyal..Keep rocking dear..

HOW TO COOKSift flour,baking powder,soda and salt.To this add oil,milk,sugar and mix well until combine ever thing.Now add coffee+cappuccino powders and stir well..Preheat oven at 200 degree C.Line papers in cup cakes and fill 3/4th.Bake for 25 minutes or until done and check with knife or tooth pickOnce done, remove and let them cool and serve .

By Usha Rani G.

Thanks a lot Usha for this wonderful guest post. Wishing you many more years of happy and successful blogging.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

The International Food Challenge
chose to cook up some Indian fare for this month. Indian cuisine has a wide
variety of regional spread. The recipes are chosen from the Marwad Cuisine and
is hosted by Manjula.

We had many recipes to try from.
Though I would have loved to try all the recipes, I chose to make one kachori
and one halwa. I do plan to try out some other recipe, maybe a little later.

Kachori is one of my favourite snack
items and I never miss to have one when we go out to chaat shops. There was
this particular shop in Hyderabad, which sold really delicious kachoris. And
though the shop was not very near to our house, most weekends, we would go all
the way to that shop specifically to have the kachoris. The kachoris were very
spicy though and my kids never had them.

So now when I got a chance to try
them at home, I did not want to miss it. Also, I made them medium spicy so that
my kids also could taste them. So adjust the red chilly powder according to
your spice level tolerance. I was pretty happy with my first
attempt on Kachoris.

Makes around - 6 t0 8 kachoris

What you'll need

All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1.5 cup

Salt to taste

Oil – 2.5 tbps

Water to knead

For the filling

Onion – 2 Medium sized, finely
chopped

Fennel – ½ tsp

Coriander Powder – ½ tsp

Cumin Powder – ¼ tsp

Red Chilly Powder – ½ tsp

Coriander Leaves – 2 tbsp, finely
chopped

Salt to taste

Oil – 2 tsp

Oil to Deep fry

Method

To make the dough

In a wide bowl, add the flour, salt
and oil and rub well with your fingers until everything is well incorporated.

Now add water little by little and
knead into a semi soft, non sticky dough.

Knead for 7 to 8 mins to make the
dough smooth and pliable.

Cover with a muslin cloth, so that it
doesn’t dry up and keep aside.

To make the filling

Heat a Kadai with 2 tsp oil.

Add fennel seeds, next add the onions
and sauté till brown.

Next add the spice powders, salt and mix
well. Saute for another minute.

Remove from heat. Add the chopped
coriander leaves and mix.

Allow to cool completely.

To make the kachori

Pinch out a big lemon sized ball of
the dough, roll out the dough into a small disc.

Place a tbsp of the filling in the
centre and gather the edges, to seal the filling and remove any excess dough.

Roll out this into a small discs,
very gently, taking care that the mixture doesn’t come out.

Repeat this with the remaining dough.

Heat oil for deep frying, make sure
oil is not smoking hot, it should be only medium hot.

Deep fry the kachoris in batches of 2
or 3, cook on low flame for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Drain and serve with chutneys of your
choice or as it is.

Note:

Deep frying on low flame for a long
time is the key to getting crisp and perfectly cooked kachoris. So don’t hurry
and cook on high flame. The kachoris will turn dark from outside and will not
be cooked from inside.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Here is yet another recipe that serves as a great side
dish for Molagootal. From this, my love for Molagootal is so evident.

After coming to Amsterdam, cooking Palakkad food, has been
restricted to weekends and Molagootal finds its way on the menu on a one of the
days, for sure. Back in India, Molagootal would be on the menu 3 times in a
week. I know, now you must be wondering if this is a post on Molagootal, I am
coming to that. Since Molagootal is a mild lentil and vegetable based stew, it
is usually paired with something spicy and tangy, like Pachadi, Thogayl, etc.

This Kathrikkai podi curry is also one such side, that
goes beautifully with Molagootal. And I make is very often as brinjal is my
younger one’s favourite vegetable. You can pair this up even with rotis, but
make sure you have dal alongside as this is a dry dish.

What you’ll need

Small Purple Brinjal – 6 to 7

Tamarind – marble sized ball

Jaggery – ½ tsp (optional)

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp

Asafoetida – a generous pinch

Salt to taste

Curry Leaves – few Sprigs

To Roast and Grind

Channa Dal/Kadala Paruppu – 1 tbsp

Coriander Seeds – 1 tbsp

Dry Red Chilly – 1 or 2 (Adjust according to taste)

To Temper

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp

Method

Soak the tamarind in very little hot water for 10 mins.
Take a thick extract and keep aside.

Heat a Kadai, and dry roast all the ingredients mentioned
under “To Roast and Grind”. Always, add Channa dal first, when its half done,
then add the coriander seeds and red chillies. This will prevent burning of
coriander seeds.

Cool and grind to a powder.

Wash and slice the brinjals lengthwise. The pieces should
be medium sized not too thick not too thin.

Heat a Kadai with oil and temper with mustard seeds, once
it splutters add the asafoetida and curry leaves.

Then add the sliced brinjals, turmeric powder, and salt to
taste.

Stir well, cover and cook on medium flame for 7 to 8
minutes. Stir once in a while for even cooking. Do not add any water while
cooking, else brinjals will turn mushy.

Once the brinjal is cooked, roast for another 5 minutes in
open kadai, so that the brinjal pieces are roasted well. Take care not to burn
the pieces.

Now add the thick tamarind extract, and jaggery. Mix
carefully without mashing the pieces.

Cook uncovered for 3 to 4 minutes or until the tamarind
extract has become dry.

Now add the prepared spice powder and mix carefully.

Cook for another minute and remove from flame.

Serve along with rice, Molagootal or with roti and dal.

Note:

Do not add water while cooking the brinjals.

While stirring the curry, do it carefully so as not to
mash the pieces as brinjal pieces will be delicate once cooked.

Adding tamarind gives a nice tang, and personally
recommend it. But if you want to serve it as a side for Sambar, then you may
omit the tamarind.